


The Fire Lord Fell (He Was Just Ozai Now)

by DerAndere



Series: (the one with parentheses) [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang Doesn't Meet The Lion Turtle, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21585679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DerAndere/pseuds/DerAndere
Summary: The Fire Lord Fell (He Was Just Ozai Now) | And then lightning surged through him. | Aang | Or: To Make A Decision (Already Made)
Series: (the one with parentheses) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554172
Comments: 2
Kudos: 81





	The Fire Lord Fell (He Was Just Ozai Now)

**The Fire Lord Fell (He Was Just Ozai Now)**

  
[100 AG]

[The Wulong Forest]

And then lightning surged through him. 

Burning him from the inside as he forced his twitching fingers, his rigid arms to follow the so carefully practiced motion, because Zuko had warned him, Zuko had known, Zuko had been right, and it hurt, everything hurt, and a tear slipped down his cheek, because he wanted this to stop, because he only had the time it took to blink to make a made decision. 

The lightning left his fingertips. 

The boy closed his eyes firmly, praying to hit, praying to miss, praying to make everything right again, but he knew he couldn't, and his shoulder throbbed and his heart beat and the Fire Lord didn't scream. 

He just fell. 

Thunder roared. 

And the Avatar - the hero, the hope, the boy, the child, the last of his people, _Aang_ \- didn't fall, he floated instead, like a leaf in the summer breeze, like all energy he'd previously possessed had left him with the white and blue crackling lightning that had struck down his opponent, and only when his toes touched the ground did his eyes flutter open again. 

His knees gave out before his heels met the stone. 

The Fire Lord - _Ozai_ , he was just Ozai now, o Vayu, what had he done, what had he done, _what had he done_ \- lay unmoving just out of reach, and there was no heart beating in his broad chest anymore when Aang pressed his palms to the ground, and the boy opened his mouth and closed it again, lips trembling, body shaking, and _what had he done_? 

A sob escaped him. 

And it hurt, everything hurt, and tears streamed down his face, because he wanted this to stop, wanted everything, everything to stop, but not like this, never like this, and people were dying every day and people had been dying for a hundred years and people had drowned in their heavy armour and his people were dead and airships had crashed into eachother, but he had never looked a man in the eye and known he'd be his demise, and he grabbed his ears with sooty fingers and pulled and it _hurt_. 

He couldn't breathe. 

He couldn't. 

He couldn't breathe. 

There wasn't enough air, there just wasn't, and he was an airbender and he needed air and there wasn't any and why wasn't there any, why couldn't he breathe, why couldn't he _breathe_? 

He pulled harder. 

His heart hammered against his ribs. 

" _Please_. _Please_." 

Why couldn't he breathe? 

"... _please_ ..." 

His nails dug into his skin. 

" _Gyatso_. _Gyatso_ , _please_." 

And he didn't know how much time went by, seconds, centuries, and if he couldn't breathe, why didn't he die, why didn't his heart just stop, why didn't he just _die_ , so that everything could finally be over, he just wanted to sleep, he just wanted this to stop, he was just a boy, _please_ , and he gasped for air and the heap on the ground that was Ozai didn't move, and his lips tasted of salt and _please_.

 _Please_. 

He had killed a man. 

"Aang?" 

He had killed countless men. 

"Up there!" 

Now it would never be over. 

"Aang!" 

He curled up tighter. 

"The Fire Lord ..." 

"Dead." 

"Aang?" 

He didn't respond. 

He couldn't breathe. 

Somebody fell to their knees beside him. 

Shaking hands carefully gathered his shattered body into familiar arms, and he buried his face in armour and sobbed loudly and held on and smelled the ocean and sweat and tears and fear, and Sokka had never hugged him so close, had never held him so tight, Sokka had never trembled like this, Sokka had never cried. 

Sokka had never, had never, Sokka had never ever. 

_Sokka_. 

His ear was pressed against Sokka's chest and he could feel it move with every taken breath, could hear his heart beating inside, strong and proud and nervous, and he laughed a desperate, choking laugh, and clung to his friend. 

"It's okay, buddy, it's okay. It's over now. We're here now. It's okay. It's alright. It's alright. We're here. I'm here. It's over." 

Pale arms wrapped around them both. 

A small hand touched his head. 

"We're here now." 


End file.
